Conference will feature Administration and Capitol Hill experts, entrepreneurs and leaders in crowdfunding.
Washington, DC- Today Sara Hanks, securities attorney and cofounder of CrowdCheck, announced that Washington DC’s first national crowdfunding conference will convene on Monday, May 14th, 2012. CrowdCheck will host experts from the US Small Business Administration, Capitol Hill, think tanks, startups and the securities industry at the conference, entitled “The Wisdom of the Crowd.” Topics will include how small businesses across the country can successfully use crowdfunding, and steps that entrepreneurs and investors should take to avoid fraud in the emerging market.
“Conventional wisdom says that crowdfunding is exciting because it will allow regular people to invest in high tech startups and find the next Facebook. But business people with brick and mortar stores and mid-size manufacturers can make crowdfunding work for them, too,” Hanks said. “We have a tremendous opportunity to make access to capital and investing opportunities more democratic.”
President Obama recently signed the JOBS Act into law, allowing start-ups and small companies to seek out investors on the Internet. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) now has less than nine months to put in place rules governing crowdfunding. CrowdCheck’s conference will discuss measures the SEC could adopt to ensure substantial investor protections are in place at the inception of crowdfunding, as well as actions investors can take to protect themselves against fraud.
Speakers and panelists include: Sean Greene, Associate Administrator for Investment and Special Advisor for Innovation at the US Small Business Administration; Brian Appel, Legislative Aide to Senator Michael Bennet; Lauren Oppenheimer, Senior Policy Advisor, Capital Markets Initiative at Third Way; Sterling Raphael, President of Avectra Labs; Maurice Lopes, President of EarlyShares.com; and, David Marlett, Executive Director of the National Crowdfunding Association.
The conference will be accessible to investors large and small and business people from the nation’s capital to the heartland and beyond. It will be livestreaming on the Internet at www.livestream.com/crowdcheck.
The conference will be held at the Hotel George, 15 E Street, NW, and is open to members of the media. To attend the conference, please RSVP to CrowdCheckRSVP@skdknick.com.
As a former securities attorney in government and private practice, Hanks has an extensive 30-year career helping companies access the capital markets.
CrowdCheck is a company founded by Hanks and business lawyers with financial market and start-up backgrounds to help entrepreneurs access capital and protect investors. CrowdCheck helps companies navigate disclosure requirements, and performs due diligence checks on start-ups to protect investors and the start-ups themselves. The results of these investigations will be available on the company’s website, www.crowdcheck.com. Recently, CrowdCheck announced it will provide free education services, seminars and presentations for businesses and incubators that are interested in learning more about the potential of crowdfunding.